1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a ribbon for forming an artificial flower to be used for ornamentation of an article, decoration of a room, and so forth.
2. Description of the Prior Art
As an example of such a ribbon, U.S. Pat. No. 4,476,168 discloses an artificial-flower-forming ribbon comprising: a pair of confronting strips and at least one string disposed therebetween, wherein both the strips and the string are joined together at one of the ends thereof, and wherein both the strips are joined together at a plurality of points on each of a plurality of transverse lines spaced apart from each other in the longitudinal direction so that both the strips can be moved relative to the string in the longitudinal direction of the string.
According to this conventional artificial-flower-forming ribbon, when both the strips are moved relative to the string in the longitudinal direction of the string, both ends of both the strips approach each other, and the portion between the one ends of the strips and the line adjacent thereto as well as portions between lines adjacent to each other are transformed into loop-like shapes, and an artificial flower is formed, making these loop-like transformed portions its petals.
In the foregoing conventional ribbon, distances between respective lines are made different to vary the sizes of the loop-like petals to better the decorative property of the artificial flower, whereas it is considered that the decorative property of the artificial flower is improved by varying the shapes of the petals, in place of or in addition to varying the sizes of the petals.
An object of the present invention is to improve the decorative property of the artificial flower formed from the ribbon.
The present invention relates to an artificial-flower-forming ribbon comprising a pair of confronting strips and at least one string disposed therebetween, wherein both the strips and the string are joined together at one of the ends thereof, and wherein both the strips are joined together at a plurality of points on each of a plurality of transverse lines spaced apart from each other in the longitudinal direction of both the strips so that the strips can be moved relative to the string in the longitudinal direction of the string, and wherein each strip has at least one slit extending in their longitudinal direction either between the joint at its one end and the line adjacent to the joint or between two lines adjacent to each other.
Another form of artificial-flower-forming ribbon according to the present invention comprises a plurality of juxtaposed pairs of strips and at least one string disposed between one of the pairs of strips, wherein the one pair of strips and the string are joined together at their one ends, and wherein the pairs of strips are joined together at a plurality of points on each of a plurality of transverse lines spaced apart from each other in their longitudinal direction so that the plurality of pairs of strips can move relative to the string in the longitudinal direction of the string.
The distances between the lines are preferably increased gradually from one ends of the strips toward the other ends thereof.